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Japan’s Gamba Osaka say they will attempt to hammer home their three-goal advantage early in the second leg of the Asian Champions League final against Adelaide United tomorrow night.
Gamba thumped United 3-0 in the first leg in Japan last week, and the Reds now need to win by four clear goals in the return leg at Hindmarsh Stadium to become Asia’s club champions.
But Gamba coach Akira Nishino believes an early goal to his side on Wednesday is the key.
An away goal would all but kill off United’s already slim hopes, leaving them a massive task to come back from four adrift in a tie which will be decided on aggregate goals over the two legs.
“Three goals is a good advantage and to use this advantage to get the first goal (on Wednesday) is very important,” Nishino said.
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar admitted his side will have at most 15 players available for selection, with injury, suspension and unavailability ripping his squad to pieces ahead of Australian soccer’s most important club match.
They will also go into the game with no reserve goalkeeper after the suspension of first-choice custodian Eugene Galekovic for the match.
Galekovic picked up a caution in last week’s match, exceeding his yellow card limit for the tournament.
Teenager Mark Birighitti is now the Reds’ only available keeper.
But Vidmar confirmed midfielders Paul Reid and Fabian Barbiero, who both missed the first leg defeat through injury, were fit.
Reid will start the match, with Barbiero likely to be on the bench.
Vidmar said his team needed to believe in themselves to overcome the three-goal deficit if they hoped to pull off a famous win.
“We’ve just got to do the best with the numbers we have,” Vidmar said.
“We know it’s a very difficult task, but you’ve still got to believe anything’s possible.”
Wednesday night’s match at the 17,000-capacity Hindmarsh Stadium is a sellout.
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